Abbot Matthew

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1937, attended both Catholic and public schools, as well as Towson State University.

In 1956, I entered Portsmouth Priory, took simple vows a year later and finished college at St. Louis University. While living at St. Louis Priory, I took my final vows at Portsmouth and was ordained a priest in 1963.

Until 1967, I taught Latin in the school. I was then elected Prior of Portsmouth Priory and not long afterward became the first Abbot of the newly erected Portsmouth Abbey. From 1970 to 1990 I taught Christian Doctrine.

I have held a variety of positions in the monastery and the school.

At present I am reading the Diaries of Dorothy Day, Virgil’s Eclogues and the Gospel of St. John. Allow me to sign off with a couple of my favorite quotes:

Prefer nothing whatever to Christ. –St. Benedict

The Mass is the adorable sacrifice in which God himself is at the same time Victim, Priest and the divine Majesty to whom the sacrifice is offered, not merely the symbol of the sacrifice of the Cross but the sacrifice itself, mysteriously renewed and re-enacted for ever, without the shedding of blood. It is an infinite sacrifice, the efficacy of which is restricted only by our own lack of fervor and devotion. All Light in this world streams from the sacrifice of the Mass. It is impossible to find or imagine a closer bond between Man and God. –Blessed Pope John XXIII